Jericho “Kiko” Francisco Jr. may have missed the podium, but the veteran Filipino-American skateboarder walked away from the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with something he valued just as much — a competition he genuinely enjoyed.

Francisco finished fourth in the Men’s Park Final with 84.41 points, coming just 1.62 points short of the bronze medal.

Japan’s Shiji Gunji took bronze with 86.03, while Chinese Taipei’s Ku Yong-yan won silver with 87.33. Japan’s Izuru Nagahara claimed gold with 88.96.

For Francisco, however, the final result was only part of the story.

After entering the competition with limited preparation and virtually no expectations, the 24-year-old said he was simply grateful to have enjoyed every moment on the course.

“I am beyond happy with my performance. I could not be any happier. Dude, I came into this with literally no expectations.”

Francisco revealed that he had only accumulated around 10 hours of practice, including his preparation for the Asian Games.

“I’ve put in maybe 10 hours of practice, including the practice time to prepare for this. So I was not expecting much.”

Despite the limited preparation, Francisco delivered a competitive performance in the final. More importantly, he said he was finally able to approach a major competition without the pressure and nervousness that had accompanied him throughout much of his career.

“Everything I did out there on that course was something I wanted to do, and it felt amazing.”

Francisco said that feeling was particularly meaningful after years of competing at the highest level.

“For the past 10 years, I’m always nervous and I’m always trying to do stuff I don’t want to do. And I really had a lot of free range competition. I had a lot of fun. Completely. No regrets.”

That freedom allowed Francisco to enjoy what he described as one of the most enjoyable competitions of his career.

“I had a great time. This is probably one of the most fun competitions I’ve had in the past 10 years probably.”

Francisco’s competitive résumé gives him plenty of experience to draw from.

A two-time SEA Games gold medalist in men’s park skateboarding, he won at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines and again at the 2025 SEA Games in Bangkok, where he posted a winning score of 90.68.